Haha! I love doing cliffhangers! It ticks people off sooo much (that's you Frosty)!
Disclaimer: You know the drill; only the OC's are mine…
Chapter 3Windkit tensed, her fur rising in fear. She opened her mouth and inhaled, and let her fur lie flat again. Out of the bushes stepped the evening patrol, with her father in the lead.
"Daddy!" squeaked Sunkit and Twilightkit as they raced up to greet Shadowstorm. Their weights combined nearly knocked him over despite his own size and strength.
"Oof! You two are getting too big for this!" Shadowstorm laughed good-naturedly.
"They are five moons old now," purred Wolfheart. She brushed her muzzle against her mates'. "Soon, MysticClan will have three new apprentices."
Shadowstorm nodded. "Speaking of which, where's Windkit?" He looked around the camp, looking right over her littlest daughter's head, pretending not to see her.
"Here I am, Dad!" giggled Windkit, brushing up against the black tom. Shadowstorm gently nuzzled her back.
"I have to go make my report to Aquastar now," he mewed to Wolfheart.
"Is there anything wrong?" the dark brown she-cat asked. Windkit pricked her own ears up. Maybe Shadowstorm had seen the red tom.
Yet the black warrior shook his head. "No, everything seems to be fine. In fact, there's more prey running than usual," he meowed happily. "I hope you don't mind me disappearing so fast."
"Not at all. Besides, it's time for these three to go to bed," she said, looking at Sunkit and Twilightkit in particular. Both were about to complain, but Wolfheart cut them off. "The deal was that you could stay up until your father got home. Now he is, so now you go to bed." She gently nudged each of them back towards the den.
Grumbling to themselves, Sunkit and Twilightkit did as they were asked, their tails dragging along the ground. Windkit followed, but before she went in, she glanced back at the camp entrance. Still the only one there was Blackstone, going up for sentry duty. She sighed and entered the nursery.
Shadowstorm looked at his mate. A worried look had come onto her face. He guessed exactly what was bothering her. "Is Windkit okay?"
Wolfheart sighed and looked up at him. "I-I don't know. She tried to leave the camp again and was claiming that there was a cat sitting in the entrance tunnel."
Shadowstorm blinked. "I can tell you for a fact that there was no scent of any cat there other than our own Clan's." he thought for a moment, then mewed, "I'll ask Aquastar what she thinks when I give her my report. Tomorrow, we can ask Solarwind. Tomorrow, mind you, not tonight. You look exhausted."
Wolfheart nodded. "I am, especially having to look after Sunkit and Twilightkit. They give me quite the runaround. Good night." Wolfheart pressed against Shadowstorm's side before entering the nursery. Shadowstorm watched after her before turning and padding to Aquastar's den.
"Aquastar?" he called. Instantly, the storm-gray leader's head popped out. Nodding, she allowed him to enter.
"Any news?" she asked, sitting with her tail curled regally around her paws.
"Only good. There is more prey running than ever, and I haven't scented any other cats near our borders."
"That is good." She studied him for a moment. "And yet, something is troubling you."
Shadowstorm's gaze flicked away from her for a moment before returning. "Windkit has been behaving strangely." He told her of how the little silver striped kit tried to leave the camp and that now she was seeing cats that didn't exist. Throughout his explanation, Aquastar's eyes grew more and more curious. "Do you know what is going on?" he asked.
"No. I'm not sure what to make of it. Then again, I am a young cat. I would speak with Solarwind or one of the elders. They have seen more moon's than I have."
"Thank you," Shadowstorm said, dipping his head respectfully. He turned and padded out of the den.
--
Windkit's eyes flashed open. The wind was whistling through the nursery. She carefully got to her paws and padded out into the moonlight, hoping no one would wake up. She moved as quietly as she could towards the camp entrance. She glanced up at the sentry post. Odd, no one's there, she thought to herself. She quickly scented the air. She caught Blackstone's scent. He's probably checking around the camp's perimeter. Then she caught a whiff of something completely different. Underneath the scents of different plants and places, it smelled vaguely of MysticClan.
Windkit quickly looked up in time to see a longhaired red tail disappear into the bushes. Without even thinking about calling for Blackstone or one of the other warriors, she followed it. Faint, almost ghost-like paw prints marked out where the cat had been. Strangely, although bushes shook where the cat had passed by, they made no sound.
Finally, she came out of the underbrush into a small clearing. In the center of it was a smooth, flat rock. On top of it sat the red tom. "So you did follow me," he meowed in a deep but soft voice.
"Who are you?" Windkit mewed, studying the tom. He was massive now that she saw him up close.
"As a Clan cat, I was known as Firefur. As a Wanderer, I am Firerunner," he said. "And you?"
Windkit was not as afraid as she thought she would have been in the presence of a stranger. She raised up her little head with pride. "I am Windkit of MysticClan."
Firerunner's golden eyes widened with surprise. "A kit?!"
"Well, I'm almost an apprentice," she added, sounding a little offended by his reaction. But the tom didn't seem to notice her.
"Never has a cat so young been called to be a Wanderer! Why have you done this to her now, instead of waiting until she was a warrior?" he meowed looking up at Silverpelt. "The journey is dangerous-too dangerous-for even a full grown cat, and here you are sending a kit!"
"What's going on?" Windkit demanded. Her courage was faltering. Who was this cat that believed he could yell at StarClan and be safe?
Firerunner stopped mid-rant and looked down at Windkit. As if reading her thoughts, he said, "Little one, I am not what you believe me to be. Once I was a part of MysticClan. Then, StarClan called me. I was supposed to go over the mountains and to the Clans beyond them."
"There are other Clans?" Windkit squeaked.
"Yes, there are other Clans. StarClan believed it was time for those Clans to meet ours many years ago. So they chose the first Wanderer, Dawnstep. But she never made the trip. For that matter, none of the Wanderers after her did."
"Including you," Windkit mewed softly.
"Yes, including me." A flicker of sadness flew through-what Windkit now realized- the ghost's eyes. "That is why I am amazed that they called you so soon. But they have called you to be the next Wanderer, and you must answer them. Will you leave MysticClan and become the New Wanderer, to rise up to future challenges and dangers, to pass them, and to find the other Clans?"
Windkit looked over her shoulder, back to where the camp was. StarClan wanted her world and theirs to meet. But, her mother would be heart-broken-her entire family would-if she left and never returned. Determination flared in her heart. Then I won't die until I complete this mission and find the other Clans, she thought to herself, her eyes narrowing at the thought of the challenge.
Firerunner saw deep within her that spark. He now knew why StarClan had chosen her and wanted her despite how young she was. A full-grown warrior would never have that much hope and determination. He himself, a jaded old ghost, believed that she would succeed where others had failed.
Windkit looked up squarely into Firerunner's golden eyes. "I will go," she meowed with confidence, "and I will return."
"Then I present to you your Wanderer name, given to you from birth by StarClan. You are Windwalker, the New Wanderer. Follow where your heart takes you, for it is StarClan who is guiding you, as will I. Be wary of others, but do not be afraid to trust when you believe others are worthy of it. Now begin the journey." The great red tom broke up into mist, surrounding her and filling her with strength, courage, and hope. The Wanderer opened up her heart and drank it in, feeling the power of StarClan flowing through her.
Slowly, the feeling subsided, and she was left standing alone in the clearing. She looked up into Silverpelt. Her eyes were drawn to the side of it, to a smaller cluster of stars. The Spirits of the Wanderers, she thought. Part of StarClan, and separated at the same time. A red star flickered brightly for a moment, reminding her that she was not as alone as she believed.
Windwalker turned towards the mountains, and with the wind as her companion, set off.